Sara Price is one of the top female racers in off-road, having medalled in the 2010 X Games in motocross and becoming the first woman to complete the Baja 1000 on her own. In 2024, she will add another legendary off-road race to her résumé when she makes her début in the Dakar Rally.
She earned the slot after winning the National Car/UTV class at the Sonora Rally, fending off Jorge Antonio Cano Félix by less than an hour. The two, along with Carlos Castro and reigning Sonora winner Daniel Gonzalez Reina, were entered in the Road to Dakar, a programme that rewards outstanding performers at World Rally-Raid Championship rounds with free admission to Dakar.
Price switched from Polaris to rival manufacturer Can-Am for 2023, and the move has paid off in a huge way as she was the only driver to win multiple stages, claiming the Prologue and Stages #2 and #3, and was fifty-two minutes ahead of Cano. It was a strong rebound after retiring from the 2022 edition following a massive crash. Can-Ams also won the Sonora’s W2RC-sanctioned T3 and T4 categories, while a Maverick X3 driven by Rodrigo Ampudia claimed the San Felipe 250 in neighbouring Baja California earlier in the month.
She and Francisco Alvarez both clinched Dakar 2024 slots at Sonora, with the latter doing so in National Moto.
“We are going to Dakar Rally!!! After Stage 5 of Sonora Rally we came to the finish first overall to win #SonoraRally to get the golden ticket to get a entry to #Dakar,” wrote Price on social media. “This has been a dream of mine since 2015 and words can’t describe the fact it’s now happening!”
Price will be the fourth person to race in both Dakar and the Stadium Super Trucks, joining SST creator Robby Gordon, Sheldon Creed, and Toby Price; the lattermost, of no relation to Sara, finished fourth at Sonora in the W2RC’s RallyGP category. She is also set to be the ninth driver with Extreme E experience to enter the Rally after Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mattias Ekström, Cristina Gutiérrez, Jutta Kleinschmidt, Sébastien Loeb, Carlos Sainz, Laia Sanz, and Molly Taylor; Al-Attiyah won the Sonora Rally overall for W2RC cars, while Ekström was second in T3 and Loeb crashed out of T1 while leading.
Seven entries reached the finish, an obvious improvement over the two-for-five in 2022. However, two of the three other stage winners were not among them as Erick Pucilek suffered a clutch failure a day after winning Stage #1 while Zach Lumsden bowed out on the final day. Gonzalez closed out the rally with the Stage #5 win. Five did not make the finish including Dakar 2023 competitor Camelia Liparoti, whose “Burrito” Yamaha suffered a mechanical failure.
National Car/UTV overall results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Category | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 605 | Sara Price | Jeremy Gray | SP Motorsports | UTV | 17:07:04 | Leader |
| 2 | 606 | Jorge Antonio Cano Félix | Abelardo Ruanova | Jorge Cano | UTV | 17:59:33 | + 52:29 |
| 3 | 611 | Craig Lumsden | Andrew Farmer | TrophyLite | UTV | 19:37:29 | + 2:30:25 |
| 4 | 612 | Carlos Castro | Carlos Sachs | Team BBR | UTV | 20:53:43 | + 3:46:39 |
| 5 | 607 | Brock Harper | Steven Geist | Brock Harper | UTV | 21:32:38 | + 4:25:24 |
| 6 | 604 | Daniel Gonzalez Reina | Jorge Hernandez Galva | Baja-Son Motorsports/GR UTV Powersports | UTV | 43:29:34 | + 26:22:20 |
| 7 | 602 | Luis Perocarpi | Mark Wells | LAP Motorsports | 4WD | 131:42:10 | + 114:35:06 |
| DNF | 610 | Zach Lumsden | Shannon Moham | TrophyLite | UTV | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 603 | Bruce Myrehn | Dan Fargo | Bruce Myrehn | 4WD | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 608 | Jim Price | Sienna Price | Price Racing | UTV | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 601 | Erick Pucilek | Mike Shirley | Erick Pucilek | 2WD | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 609 | Camelia Liparoti | Anthony Albano | AVID Racing Yamaha | UTV | DNF | N/A |
National Car/UTV stage winners
| Stage | Driver | Time |
| Prologue | Sara Price | 5:41 |
| Stage #1 | Erick Pucilek | 2:46:31 |
| Stage #2 | Sara Price | 2:14:21 |
| Stage #3 | Sara Price | 5:37:59 |
| Stage #4 | Zach Lumsden | 4:11:27 |
| Stage #5 | Daniel Gonzalez Reina | 1:39:11 |
Overall winners
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 201 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 10:29:55 |
| T3 | 302 | Mitch Guthrie | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 11:17:24 |
| T4 | 400 | Rokas Baciuška | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing | 11:51:05 |
| RallyGP | 18 | Daniel Sanders | Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing | 11:01:09 |
| Rally2 | 17 | Romain Dumontier | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | 11:48:21 |
| Rally3 | 57 | Massimo Camurri | Freedom Rally Racing | 15:59:16 |
| Quad | 162 | Laisvydas Kancius | AG Dakar School | 15:33:14 |
| National Car/UTV | 605 | Sara Price* | SP Motorsports | 17:14:04 |
| National Enduro | 513 | Brendan Crow* | Brendan Crow | 16:37:36 |
| National Malle Moto | 501 | Matt Sutherland* | Matt Sutherland | 18:24:08 |
